Bright
by hummerhouse
Summary: Pursuing Purple Dragons during a seemingly routine patrol, the turtle brothers encounter something unexplainable. Unfortunately, they might not be able to come back from it. Multi-chapter 2k3. Horror/Adventure
1. Chapter 1

Bright  
part 1

"Ah ha! Took mine down first bro'," Mikey called out jubilantly.

"Yeah? Well I got mine hog tied first so I win," Raph responded. Lying on the ground next to him was a Purple Dragon thug, his legs and arms trussed together like a calf in a tie-down contest.

"Aw man," Mikey whined. He made quick work of securing the Purple Dragon that he'd caught before asking, "What's this week's count up to now?"

"Fourteen for me, twelve for you," Raph chortled.

"Count later, hunt now," Leo chastised, drawing their attention back to the job at hand. "You on them Donny?"

"Yep, they just turned the corner," Donatello answered. "You'd think they'd drop the money; those coins are slowing them down."

"Greed dude," Mikey observed, bouncing up next to Don. "Are they still running?"

"They're trying to," Don said, jogging along behind Leo.

"What kind of stupid criminal breaks open parking meters and then tries to get away on foot?" Raph asked, catching up to his brothers.

"The Purple Dragon kind," Mikey supplied helpfully.

"I think one of their bags broke," Don told them, pointing at a coin lying on the sidewalk.

"Just like bread crumbs," Raph said, spotting another coin ahead of them.

"This is exactly why so many of the meters have been converted to card reader systems," Don said. "Not only is it more convenient, but there is no profit in breaking them open."

"Gives ya' something new to geek over," Raph said with a grin.

Don glanced at him as they ran. "I've never had to use a parking meter, thank you very much."

"Yeah, you just double park the Battle Shell," Mikey said.

"Focus," Leo called out from his position several feet in front of his brothers.

"There are only two of 'em left, Leo," Raph said, although he sprinted in order to come up alongside his brother. "It's not like we're gonna have to break a sweat catching up to them."

"Never underestimate an opponent, especially a desperate one," Leo reminded him. "A trapped animal always fights hardest."

"Ancient Japanese wisdom?" Mikey asked in a teasing voice.

"Nope. Common sense," Leo said. He saw several coins spaced out on the sidewalk and pointed at them. "They know we're still pursuing them, otherwise they'd stop to do something about that broken bag."

"Should we be worried they'll call backup?" Don asked anxiously.

"The old Dragon's maybe, not this new batch," Raph said. "I got it on good authority that Hun's started coming down on guys that fail the way his old boss the Shredder did. It's easier on them to get beat up by us and then lie to Hun by saying that there wasn't any money in the meters than it'd be to have to call for help."

"Why anyone joins that gang is beyond me," Don said.

Leo halted suddenly, lifting his hand to stop his brothers.

"What is it?" Raph asked, peering around Leo's shoulder.

"Open ground," Leo told him. "They're going into a construction yard."

"Shouldn't there be a guard on duty to stop them?" Don asked.

The brothers stood together, pressed against the side of a building as they watched the two men they were pursuing push open the construction yard gate and run inside. Half a city block had been torn down and work lights illuminated the large pit that was being excavated in one part of the space. Such a well-lit open area wasn't ideal for ninjas who survived by being unseen.

"Not only aren't there any guards, there aren't any locks," Mikey said. His eyes swept from the gate to the tall fence that surrounded the construction yard.

"We ain't gonna let them get away, are we?" Raph asked, studying Leo's profile.

"No," Leo said, his voice resolute. "I just wanted to make sure no one else was around. Donny, can you tell if there are any cameras?"

Don had already extracted the binoculars from his bag and was perusing the yard. "I don't see a single one," he announced. "This is really odd, Leo. There's some very expensive equipment lying around and it's completely unprotected."

"You know what else is odd?" Mikey asked rhetorically. "Where'd those guys go? There's only one gate and that's the one they used to get inside. I never saw them climb the fence to get back out. Did any of you?"

"No," Don answered, looking to Raph and Leo who both shook their heads.

"Maybe they went into the pit," Raph suggested. "Could be hiding down there thinking we'll miss seeing them."

"Hun's scraping the bottom of the barrel if he's recruiting guys that are that dumb," Mikey said.

"Or this is a very elaborate ambush," Leo said grimly.

"Ambush from where, Leo?" Raph asked, waving his hand towards the construction yard. "Where is there for anyone to hide? Ya' could squeeze maybe two into the cab of that crane and two in the excavator but where's the rest of the threat gonna hide? Inside the pit?"

"I don't know," Leo said, frowning as though trying to grab an elusive thought. "Something feels . . . off about this whole thing."

Tucking the binoculars back into his bag, Don said, "There are no cameras, no security equipment of any kind, and no one at all in that yard. What do you want to do, Leo? We could give the police an anonymous tip and call it a night. There's a bigger mystery to why this site is so abandoned and that's something for the authorities to deal with."

"Suppose the Dragons have rigged the yard with explosives?" Leo countered. "Do we really want the police to stumble into something like that because we got spooked?"

"That would be a big no," Raph said. "I vote we go in. Ain't no way we should give the Purple Dragons the idea that we're chicken."

"I'll go if Donny does," Mikey said with a grin, slapping his genius brother on the shoulder. "He's never met an explosive he can't disarm."

Don smiled and patted his bag. "Have tools, will travel."

Leo was quiet for a moment as he studied the yard. His brothers remained silent as well, knowing that Leo was formulating a plan.

With a sigh, Leo finally said, "Maybe I'm paranoid, but it's better to be safe. We'll separate and jump the fence in different locations. Avoid the gate completely. Watch for trip wires, for discolored patches of earth where S-mine's might be hidden, for laser lights. You guys know the drill. We'll converge on the pit. Call out if you see anything or anyone. Otherwise don't make a sound and watch for my signals."

His brothers nodded in acknowledgment and Raph said, "Let's do this."

Following Leo's example, the turtles crouched low and darted across a wide expanse of road, separating as they reached the sidewalk in front of the construction site. Once they were a good distance from each other, the brothers jumped over the fence, landing in a squat and examining the area around them before proceeding forward.

Stepping gingerly, Mikey kept his eyes on his brothers while he moved, making sure to also watch where he was going. The last thing he needed was to lose a foot because he wasn't focusing. At this point, chasing down a couple of Purple Dragons over a hundred bucks in stolen coins seemed pretty absurd.

When Mikey reached the pit unscathed, he exhaled heavily in relief. None of them had encountered any traps and they hadn't seen a single person.

Thin metal rods had been driven into the ground all around the pit and yellow tape with the words "keep out" printed on it had been attached to the rods. A section of the tape was broken, right at the point where the top of a ladder showed.

The brothers came together at that spot, all of them looking down at the gaping maw that had been opened in the ground. Although there were work lights in the area, they did nothing to pierce the darkness beyond a couple of feet under the pit's rim.

"This is a fresh break," Don said in a low voice as he examined the ends of the yellow tape.

"They leading us on?" Raph asked. "Why climb down into someplace ya' can't see into?"

Don fished his flashlight out of his bag and switched it on. Shining the light down into the pit barely illuminated the space that was about thirty feet in diameter. There was a fine mist near the bottom that Don's flashlight had a difficult time penetrating, but it didn't appear to be occupied.

Raph snorted. "So maybe they didn't go down there after all. Maybe we just missed seeing them get out of the yard somewhere else."

Mikey squatted near the top of the ladder and scooped something up from the ground. Standing, he displayed a pair of quarters to his brothers.

"They went down all right," Mikey said. "I saw fresh mud on the rungs of the ladder."

"So then where are they?" Raph asked, starting to get frustrated.

"Maybe they fell," Don offered. "If they lost their balance they could be lying down there under the mist, too injured to move. That mist indicates moisture and could be the reason construction came to a stop. This pit isn't large enough to be part of a sub-basement, but it could have been meant as a footer for the new building."

"That don't sound like they were setting us up for a trap," Raph said. "Sounds more like a couple of head cases thinking they'd find some kind of escape route down there."

"This could be a potentially big liability for the builder," Don said. "No guard, no locks, and not enough light on this pit is just asking for a lawsuit."

"Yeah, maybe the Dragons saved us some effort by falling in and breaking their legs. They can sue and make more money than they can by busting open parking meters," Raph said sarcastically.

Leo was looking back towards one of the streets that ran alongside the building next to the construction site. He turned his head to catch Don's attention. "Could this be where they were going to tap into the city sewer system?" he asked. "There's a sewer opening not far from here."

"Yes it could be," Don said, sounding animated. "If that's the case, then there's a chance they already built the connecting tunnel."

"That's why those guys went down," Mikey said. "They knew about a tunnel and wanted a shortcut out of here where we wouldn't see them leave."

"Only one way to find out for sure," Raph said, crossing over to the ladder and swinging down onto it.

Don handed him the flashlight and Leo said, "Take it easy bro'. We could still run into something down there."

Raph gave him a curt nod and started down. As soon as there was enough room, Leo took to the ladder and followed, with Mikey taking the third position and Don coming down last.

As they neared the bottom the visibility actually became somewhat better, due to the flashlight reflecting off of the mist. One by one they stepped off the ladder, the cool mist swirling around their calves.

Playing the flashlight along the ground showed the brothers that they were alone. Something gleamed near the bottom rung of the ladder and once more Mikey bent down to recover a coin.

"Someone just dropped this 'cause it's not covered in dirt. There's a trail of quarters moving away from the ladder," Mikey said. "Hand me the light so I can follow it."

Raph passed the flashlight over to his younger brother who used it to track the trail of coins across the ground. The others followed along behind him, both wary and watchful.

The air felt damper as they walked, the ground beneath their feet turning squishy. Leo stopped and squatted down, calling out, "Hold on, Mikey."

Turning, Mikey shone the light onto the ground in front of his brother. "What is it?" he asked.

"Footprints," Leo said as he stood up. "Two sets. Keep going."

After a few more paces Don said, "I think there's an opening in the wall ahead."

Mikey lifted the light and they could all see that a tunnel had been dug through one side of the pit. The mist was rolling in from the tunnel and when Mikey tried to see farther into the interior, a heavy blanket of fog blocked his view.

"Do you suppose they stumbled in there without a light?" Don asked.

"I don't know," Leo said. "Let's all be quiet for a minute and find out if we can hear them."

All four turtles went completely still, even to the point of controlling their breathing. Almost immediately Don noticed that not only couldn't they hear the two men they were pursuing, they couldn't hear any other sounds either. No traffic or city noises penetrated into the pit, nor did the noise that dripping water would have made.

"We should hear water," Don whispered. "The drip is almost constant in the tunnels. This fog can't happen if it's dry in there. Why can't we hear anything?"

"It's Hun, I guarantee it," Raph said with assurance. "He's got a new underground hideout and probably makes that damn fog to keep people from getting too curious."

"Well, it worked on this turtle too," Mikey said. "I'm totally not curious. I say let them have the coins and we'll catch them next time."

He started to back away from the tunnel but Raph planted a palm in the center of Mikey's carapace and shoved. "Uh uh, we don't let them get away with anything."

Don took the flashlight from Mikey's hand and approached the tunnel entrance. "The supports are all intact and solid looking," he reported as he checked the wooden beams that held the walls and ceiling in place. "They haven't poured the concrete yet, but the wire mesh is in place."

"We'll go in," Leo said. "If Hun does have a new base of operations, we need to know that."

Mikey swallowed hard. "You know, someone should monitor the situation from topside," he said. "I volunteer."

"Nope," Raph said, yanking on Mikey's mask tails to pull his brother along. "We wouldn't dream of letting you miss out on the fun."

Leo accepted the flashlight from Don and took the lead with Raph bringing up the rear. On their guard, the four turtles moved silently into the tunnel.

The white vapor was still only calf high but thicker than it had been inside the pit. Progress was slow due as much to lack of visibility as it was to caution, though the brothers were relieved that the tunnel was wide enough for them to maneuver within.

Their path was unbroken for nearly thirty yards and then they came across a T in the tunnel. Leo dropped to one knee to check the ground, finding that the footprints they were following had turned to the left.

Taking the left turn, the brothers moved on. The ground seemed to soak up the sounds of their footsteps, leaving a silence so complete that it made their ears ache.

In another twenty yards they reached a bend in the tunnel and followed it. The fog was higher at this point, coming all the way up to their thighs, and so dense it seemed like it could be cut with a knife.

Walking disturbed the fog and tendrils of it curled up around them, curving over their shoulders and lapping at their faces. The eerie silence was pregnant, maddening, and the turtles started to feel on edge.

Another bend appeared before them and again they flowed with it. The fog was now up to their waists, moving like waves around them.

In another fifteen yards they reached a solid wall.

"Shit!" Raph cursed, breaking the silence and nearly busting his brother's eardrums.

Leo spun in a circle, checking the other two walls without finding a break in them. Don and Mikey pressed their hands against the end wall and found that it was immovable.

"They must have turned around, gone down the other tunnel," Mikey said.

"There were no footprints going that direction," Leo insisted.

"Then where the shell are they?" Raph asked in frustration.

Leo lowered himself to his knees and placed his eyes near the ground. He could just make out two sets of shoed tracks and both were headed in; neither were going out.

Standing he said, "The tracks show them coming this way. There aren't any going back the way we came."

"Maybe they walked backwards in their own steps?" Don asked, though he didn't sound as though he believed it.

"Only one way to find out," Raph said, turning around.

"I don't like this," Leo said quietly, stopping his brother. "I have a feeling in my gut . . . ."

"What?" Don asked when he paused.

"We're getting out of here. Now," Leo ordered, pushing past Raph to lead the way.

Leo mentally counted off their steps, just as he'd done when they entered the tunnel. In fifteen paces they made the bend in the tunnel and found themselves once again facing a wall.

"What the heck?" Mikey exclaimed, touching the wall to make sure he wasn't imagining things.

"Did we miss a turn?" Don asked with a perplexed look.

"There weren't any other turns," Leo said. He got down on the ground quickly and located their footprints but there was only the set they'd just made.

"Go back," Leo said as he stood. "We can follow the fog. It gets lower the closer we are to the pit."

Urgency spurred them to move faster. Each brother could almost feel something ominous in the very air around them and had to fight the desire to break into a run.

It was a good thing they hadn't or they would have slammed into the next wall they reached.

"Okay, I gotta say it. This is not good," Mikey pronounced.

"Ya' think?" Raph asked bitingly.

"We can't be going in the correct direction," Don said, striving to stay calm. "The fog is getting higher. Let's just slow down and take our time."

Mikey moved in close to his brothers as they started walking again. "We should have marked the walls with something as we came in. Better yet, we shouldn't have come in at all."

"Shut. Up," Raph snarled at him.

"Don't snap at me bro'," Mikey told him. "I was the one who said . . . ."

He broke off when they came up against another wall. The four brothers stood next to each other, speechless as they stared at it.

"Back up," Leo finally said, his voice low. "Whatever this is, we need to keep moving."

"Move where?" Raph asked, backing away from the wall.

"Any opening we can find," Leo said.

They were still facing the wall when wisps of vapor began to pour in from around it, streaming down from the ceiling and pushing through the very earth itself.

"Go!" Leo shouted.

Turning as one the brothers started to run. They'd only gone a few steps when a bright, white light hit their eyes and blinded them.

TBC….


	2. Chapter 2

Bright  
part 2

"Shell to shell!" Leo shouted as soon as the blinding bright light hit their eyes.

The brothers did not need their sight to find each other, spinning at Leo's command and backing together. Almost as one they drew their weapons, standing ready to fend off an attack.

It didn't come. Tense and waiting, the minutes ticked by, the only sounds that of their own heavy breathing. As the time passed, so did the blindness, fading until their vision cleared completely.

Not that there was anything to see. As soon as their eyesight returned, the brother's heads pivoted, though they didn't move from their defensive position. All around them was nothingness; pure solid white space. They would have thought they were still blind if not for the fact that they could now see each other. The four of them were the only things containing color around.

"Not going to freak out, not going to freak out," Mikey murmured over and over.

"Donny?" Leo asked.

Don's eyes darted from left to right, then up and down. "Not enough data, boss," he said. "I don't see any seams but it could be a cylindrical room."

"How the heck did we get in here then?" Raph demanded. "Where the shell did it come from? This wasn't in the tunnels we went through and after all these years living underground, there ain't no way we got lost."

"Maybe it was something in that fog," Mikey offered. "You know, like making us see things."

"A mist with hallucinogenic properties? It's possible of course, but I doubt we'd all be having the same hallucination," Don mused.

He lifted his Bo staff, holding it by one end as he extended his arm upwards, using the staff to feel for the ceiling. It came into contact with nothing.

"If this is a cylinder, the top is way up there," Don said. "It's going to be a long climb."

"That's if we can find a way to climb out," Raph said.

"We walked into a trap of some sort, but it's too elaborate for the Purple Dragons and it's not the Foot's style," Leo said. "Maybe Bishop. He's certainly gone to these lengths before."

"But not to catch us," Mikey argued. "If he wants us he just pelts us with knock out gas. He could have done that as soon as we climbed down into the pit."

"If this is supposed to be a trap, then I say we get the hell out of it," Raph growled, stepping away from the circle the brothers had formed. "Pick a direction, Leo."

Leo pointed to the space behind Mikey. "We came from that way when the light hit us. Let's go that way but stay close, if there are any more surprises we don't want to be far from each other."

The group started walking, each brother holding his weapon defensively. After ten minutes of moving they encountered nothing but more white space.

"It didn't take us this long to get through the whole damn tunnel the first time," Raph said.

Lifting a hand, Leo stopped his brothers. "Let's try a different direction."

Turning, they began walking again, keeping their eyes open for any change in the bright whiteness they were trapped within. They continued on for another ten minutes before coming to a halt.

"This is bizarre, dudes," Mikey said.

"Understatement of the year, Mikey," Don said as he squatted down and lowered his hand to the ground. "Odd," he pronounced, moving his palm around. "The ground has substance without feeling like it has substance."

"That made no sense," Raph said.

Don stood. "We can walk on it, it sustains our weight, but it doesn't feel like anything."

"Like if we were walking on a cloud?" Mikey asked.

"A fanciful metaphor but not entirely inaccurate," Don said.

Leo lowered one of his swords and used the tip to gingerly poke at the ground. He felt no resistance at all and pushed harder, watching the tip disappear into the whiteness. Lifting his sword left no mark on the ground at all. Pressing his lips into a thin line, he swept his katana across the white expanse, seeing the blade sink into it without producing a cut.

"We went into the light bro's," Mikey said. "I'm calm now. Totally not freaking out anymore. Pretty soon a door's gonna open and we'll be called into the great beyond."

"Let's find out if I can kick your ass in the great beyond," Raph snapped, spinning towards his brother.

"I don't know much about religious dogma, but I'm pretty sure we're not dead," Don said flatly. "Could you save the fight for later?"

"Sure, no problem," Mikey said, looking at Raph. "Can I pencil you in for 4 o'clock?"

Raph growled but didn't respond, instead choosing to ignore him in favor of telling Leo, "We should split up, go in different directions until we see something or touch something."

Leo grimaced but said, "I don't much like that idea, but it's faster than trying to explore as a single unit. Don't go far though, we should keep each other in sight."

"Dude, I doubt if I'm gonna be looking at anything else," Mikey said, swallowing audibly.

Separating, the turtles walked out from each other, going in four different directions. They'd only gone a few feet when Leo suddenly cried out, "Stop! Come back together!"

His brothers immediately pivoted and sprinted back to where Leo was standing.

"Did you see what happened when we started to get too far apart?" Leo asked, eyes wide.

"Yeah, I did," Mikey said. "You guys were fading out. It looked like the white was trying to swallow you."

"I didn't feel any different," Raph said.

"Don, can you speculate on what's happening?" Leo asked.

"To have a theory you have to have some facts," Don said. "We don't have any. Can I use my imagination? Sure, but I'd come up with too many ideas that would do us no good. I can say that if this were an optical illusion or a hologram we should be able to touch the walls and there don't seem to be any."

"If they dropped us in here there has to be a way out," Raph insisted.

"How can this mysterious 'they' drop us when we didn't even move?" Mikey asked.

"Let's table that discussion for another time," Leo said. "We need to mark the spot we're in right now, pick a direction, and leave marks as we go. With no landmarks to follow, for all we know we've been going in circles."

Don started digging in his bag. "That's a good idea, Leo. We should have done that to start with."

"Hey, I came up with it first," Mikey said. "Right after saying we shouldn't go into the tunnel at all."

"Thank ya', Mikey. That was very helpful. Remind me to give ya' a medal," Raph said sarcastically.

"I'll bet you don't even know who Hansel and Gretel are," Mikey said as he made a face at his brother.

Extracting a couple of tubes of paint from his bag, Don said, "It's not bread crumbs, but these should do the trick. Red or blue?"

"Red," Raph said quickly.

Sticking the blue tube in his belt, Don twisted the cap off the red and squeezed a small amount onto a rag. Bending down, he rubbed the paint into the ground, leaving a large red circle as a marker.

"Put down a mark every ten feet," Leo said and proceeded to move.

As the four walked along, Don periodically stopped to paint the ground as Leo had directed. They were thirty feet from their starting point when Mikey called out, "Wait, wait, wait!"

Stopping swiftly, Leo asked, "What is it?"

Rather than speak, Mikey pointed towards the first red circle Don had made. Stunned, the brothers watched as it started to fade into the floor.

As one the brothers rushed back to the mark, reaching it just as it completely disappeared. Turning to look at their trail, they saw all of the subsequent paint marks fading out as well.

"What the hell?" Raph asked. "Okay, that's it. I say we run full out until we hit something. No way is this more than a mile wide. Two at the most."

Don reached out and caught his arm. "Don't exert the energy," he said, sounding ominous.

Raph frowned at him and Leo asked, "What's wrong?"

"Look at your skin," Don said urgently. "All of us; masks, skin, gear. I just realized what I've been noticing for the last half hour. The more we move, the more our color fades."

It was true, each of them looked paler than before, their masks, Don's duffel bag, even the wraps on their weapons, all of it appeared to have faded. It was the most noticeable on Raph's emerald green skin because it was a deeper hue to start with, but they were all losing color.

"Damn," Raph said forcefully, acknowledging the change.

"Now I doubt more than ever that this is one of Bishop's traps," Leo said. "I don't think our actual physical bodies have moved at all."

"More riddles? What does that mean?" Raph asked. "We've been running around for hours."

Leo glanced at him and then all around them before saying, "Maybe this is all in our minds. Maybe that bright flash of light we saw hypnotizes us somehow."

"The disappearing tunnel happened before that light did," Mikey pointed out.

"I suppose the fog could have been responsible for some sort of group hallucination," Don said slowly. "It's possible the footprints, the coins, the first wall we encountered were all suggestions planted there to keep us seeing the same things."

"Sorta like when that hypnotist guy swings his watch in front of someone's face," Mikey said. "As soon as he's got you under his spell he tells you that you're a chicken. Only this time he told us we're in an endless white room. How do we un-hypnotize ourselves?"

Don didn't bother telling him there was no such word. "If the only thing truly trapped is our minds then we have to break out with our minds."

"Again, how exactly do we do that brainiac?" Raph asked.

It was Leo who answered. "If we are hypnotized, or something equivalent to that, then we meditate. Together. We've broken spells that way before, it's one of the reasons we practice our meditation every day."

"Yay, my favorite thing to do. Not," Mikey said caustically.

"Would you rather fade away into nothingness?" Don asked.

"Are those my only two options?" Mikey countered.

Leo lowered himself to the ground, adopting the lotus position. "Sit in a circle," he instructed his brothers, "knees touching. Clasp hands so we can pool our energy. Don't break the circle no matter what happens."

As his brothers took up their places in the circle, Raph asked, "I just got one question. Why is this happening?"

"Only one? I've got like, twenty," Mikey said, pressing his knee against Raph's and taking his hand.

"I'd say something needs our energy," Don answered, taking his spot between Leo and Mikey. "The fact that our color is draining probably means something is feeding off of our life force."

"That really ticks me off," Raph muttered.

"Concentrate," Leo urged. "We don't know how much time we have. Close your eyes and focus inwards."

Taking deep, measured breaths the brothers closed their eyes and shut out their surroundings. Each centered themselves as they had been taught by their sensei, calming all inner turmoil and banishing their concerns and questions in favor of finding their _Ki_.

As they entered a deeply meditative state, they sensed a shift around them. Suddenly they heard the chirping of birds and the sound of people talking.

Without moving, the brothers slowly opened their eyes. They were no longer in the white room but now found themselves in the middle of a grassy field, surrounded by people dressed like early settlers.

The people moved past them, going about their business as though they couldn't see the giant mutated turtles seated on the ground nearby. Don glanced down at his feet, wiggling his toes in the tall grass but rather than touching any of the blades, his toes passed through them.

"Where's the skyscrapers? Where's the pizza joints?" Mikey asked. "We're still in New York City, aren't we?"

"Yes we are," Don said, studying everything around him. "This appears to be around 1625 when the Dutch settled the region. This must be a vision that we're meant to see."

Near where they were seated was a hole in the ground with a crude leather cover staked down over it. There was a symbol burned into the leather, but it was unfamiliar to the brothers.

"Do you recognize that, Donny?" Leo asked.

"No, but I'd guess it was placed there by the Lenape Indians," Don replied. "This was part of their territory until the eighteenth century."

The turtles watched as some settlers found the leather cover and removed it to peer into the hole. Finding nothing of interest, they walked away, leaving the hole in the ground open and the now torn covering tossed aside.

Time fast forwarded then, flying past the watching brother's eyes, the shadows elongating as the sun went down. It was soon nightfall and what had been an uninteresting hole began spewing forth a bright, white mist.

"Do you see that?" Mikey asked. "It's the same mist."

He almost lifted his hand to point at it but Raph tightened his grip. "We see it nut ball, don't move," Raph warned his brother.

Near the hole was a small camp, some settlers sitting around a fire while others slept under makeshift shelters. The settlers seemed unaware of the mist as it crept along the ground, moving steadily towards them. Sliding along with what seemed like a purpose, the entirety of the mist approached the people sitting near the fire.

"Move," Don urged under his breath. "Look up and move."

Of course they could not hear him, continuing their quiet conversation as the mist began to pool around their feet. As soon as it touched them it moved faster, crawling up their legs and onto their bodies.

That's when they noticed it. Jumping to their feet, the five men flailed their arms as though trying to run away, but they could not move. First one, then another screamed in terror as the mist climbed over them and then suddenly they all went silent.

The other settler's woke at the sounds of distress and rushed towards the men. When they saw the unnatural frozen state all five of the stricken men were in, the settlers stopped and began to back away from the mist.

Eyes wide open and glazed over, the five men were living statues within a cocoon of white. Little by little the color drained from them; their skin, their clothes, their hair – everything. Even the pupils of their eyes turned white and then the men began to fade completely, their body's first turning near invisible and then disappearing.

Although it was the dead of night, the remaining settlers quickly packed their belongings and sped from the area. By the time daylight began to show, the camp was deserted and the mist had pulled back into the hole. The only thing left of the five men were a few bleached white rags.

Time shifted again. Snow came and went, a fire raged across the grassy field, rains fell, grass grew. With each nightfall the mist would roll out of the hole in the ground, seeking for some living thing to feed upon. Mostly it found nocturnal animals but at least once it discovered another unwary human, a Native American by the looks of his garb.

Two more nights passed after that incident and then the turtles watched as a young Lenape approached the hole in the ground. Dusk had fallen and he was alone, but it was apparent that he was there seeking the mist.

"What's he doing?" Raph asked. "He's gonna get himself killed."

As the Lenape neared the hole, wispy tendrils of the mist appeared, gathering at the edges of the opening and then flowing inextricably towards the young man. Rather than taking flight, the Lenape lifted one of his arms to cover his eyes and simultaneously reached into a pouch that hung from his waist.

Bringing forth a handful of a granular substance that looked very much like sand, the Lenape tossed it on the ground in front of him. When the smoky tendrils reached that spot, the mist reared back as though scalded.

With each step forward the Lenape took he threw down another handful of the substance, driving the mist back into its hole. When it was gone from sight, the man lowered his arm and sprinkled what remained in his pouch around the edges of the hole.

From his belt the Lenape withdrew a cylindrical object and spread it out on the ground. The turtles could see that it was another thick leather hide with the same symbol they'd noticed before burned into it.

Swiftly but with a great deal of care, the Lenape placed the leather hide over the hole and drove wooden stakes through the outer edges to hold it in place. That done, he moved several good sized rocks into the area around the hole and then covered the leather with dirt, leaves, and twigs.

"What was he sprinkling on the ground?" Mikey asked.

Don shook his head. "I don't know, but I have a feeling we need to find out."

"How do ya' want to do that?" Raph asked. "We gonna all stand up at once and walk over there, holdings hands and looking like a bunch of goofs?"

"I kind of doubt there's anyone around to see us, Raphie," Mikey said.

"Don't call me Ra . . . ."

Raph's admonition was interrupted by a violent shaking of the ground beneath them. Before they could react, the grassy field disappeared in the wink of an eye and the very air around them seemed to spin, vague images flashing by in hazy blur.

"Oh crap!" Raph yelled as wind whipped the ends of his mask against his face and pushed hard against his body.

The spinning sensation grew stronger and then the four turtles felt themselves lifted into the air.

"Hold on!" Leo shouted. "Don't let go of each other!"

TBC….


	3. Chapter 3

Bright  
part 3

"Hang on!" Leo repeated as he and his brothers were buffeted by a strong whirlwind.

"Ow!" Mikey yelped, his mask tails slapping him across his eyes.

Heads down, the brothers tried to shield their faces from the heavy wind while at the same time gripping each other's hands so as not to break the circle.

"Donnie?" Leo shouted above the roar.

"We're moving!" Don called back.

"No shit Sherlock!" Raph yelled.

"Through time!" Don bellowed. "We're moving forward . . . !"

The wind stopped just as suddenly as it had started.

". . . in time!" Don finished, his shout so loud in the new silence that his brother's winced.

The sensation that they'd been lifted by the whirlwind was fortified by the thump of their rears hitting the ground. None of the four was out of place though; even their knees were still touching, just as they'd been when they'd formed their circle.

"Where are we now?" Mikey asked, lifting his head to look around.

His brothers followed suit. They were no longer sitting in a grassy field but instead on a dirt lot. On all sides of them were workers in coveralls and caps, moving with the speed of a movie that's been set to fast forward.

Buildings were going up. High rises built from steel and sweat. The air was dusty and the men worked without harnesses.

Suddenly the vision slowed to normal speed as a car pulled onto the lot and a man dressed in a suit and tie stepped from the vehicle. A worker came over to greet him, pointing to an area that appeared to have just been excavated.

"That's a 1935 Studebaker Phaeton," Don said in a voice filled with awe.

"So now we're in New York of the thirties?" Raph asked. "What the hell are we supposed to be seeing here?"

"The same thing we saw in the last timeline," Leo said. "Look, they found the hole."

A group of men stood around the dark hole in the ground, chattering excitedly as the businessman walked up to them. When they stepped aside for him, the turtles saw that the covering placed over the hole by the Lenape many years earlier had been removed.

"Oh crap," Raph said in a low voice.

The businessman leaned over to look into the hole and then snapped his fingers at the worker he'd talked to. That man handed him a flashlight that the businessman then used to illuminate the hole.

Shaking his head, the businessman relinquished the flashlight and waved his hands at the workers, scattering them quickly. After saying a few words to what appeared to be his foreman, the businessman picked up the leather covering and looked it over before rolling it up and taking it with him.

Time rapidly moved forward again until it was dark outside. The construction site was deserted save for a pair of night watchmen who lounged near the open hole.

"I can't watch," Mikey said, knowing what they were about to be shown.

The words were barely out of his mouth when the white mist began to pour out of the hole. Like something with a single mind, it slithered across the ground, taking a direct course towards the watchmen.

Mikey's eyes were closed, his head turned away. Despite that he began squeezing Raph and Don's hands tighter, as though he could still see what was happening. Don wanted to close his eyes as well, but he knew they were seeing this vision because there was something in it they needed to know.

Understanding that this was a replay of something that had happened long ago didn't help their anxiety as the turtles watched the mist overtake the watchmen. Once more the mist took hold of its prey, freezing the two hapless men so they could not run and draining them until they faded to nothing.

This time the only things left behind were the guns they had carried. Even those had changed from a dark metallic gray to something nearly white in color.

"Those probably won't fire anymore," Don said, though the statement was rather inane. The horror they'd witnessed left him feeling slightly numb.

Before anyone could respond, the vision fast forwarded again. It was not the rush of buffeting winds that carried them through time, but once more the rapid play of events. The turtles watched as the guns were discovered, as police visited the site. They saw workers, pressed into service as watchmen at the site, fall prey to the mist.

The police investigated, found nothing, and moved on. A private security service was hired, but those men lost their lives to the accursed mist as well. When the authorities posted their own people at the site they too were attacked.

Work stopped completely as construction was shut down. The homeless drifted onto the site, using the steel guiders and building skeleton as shelter. Though farther from the hole than the poor helpless souls who'd gone before them, the mist overtook these men too. It was growing stronger, moving faster, becoming brighter.

Then one morning the Studebaker pulled onto the vacant lot near the hole and the businessman got out. He went around to the other side of the car and opened the door for a sedately-dressed, dark haired older woman. Both she and the construction foreman climbed out of the car.

As they approached the opening in the ground, the mist began to drift up from the darkness, curling over the edges of the hole. For the first time it appeared undaunted by sunlight, though it did not move as fast as it did when it was dark out.

"The more it feeds, the stronger it gets," Leo said, somewhat unnecessarily.

Almost immediately the woman pulled a small pouch from her bag, closed her eyes, and signaled the two men to stop. When the men began to back away, she did not, instead opening the pouch to pour fine, white crystals into her palm. The mist had nearly reached the toes of her shoes when she sprinkled the crystals on the ground in front of her.

The mist rolled over itself as it slid away from the woman. She followed, sprinkling more of the crystals onto the ground and driving it back into the hole.

While she forced the mist to flee from her, the two men pulled supplies from the back of the car. There was a cylindrical plastic pipe, closed on one end and open on the other, a bag of concrete, trowels, and jugs of water.

The foreman dashed off into the worksite, returning with a wheelbarrow. He and the businessman poured the concrete and water into the wheelbarrow, mixing it quickly. As they labored, the woman stood next to the hole and placed a fine layer of crystals all around the edges. When that was done, she upended the pouch and emptied its remaining contents into the hole.

"Salt!" Don exclaimed excitedly. "She's using salt. That must have been what the Lenape used when he controlled the mist."

Ten minutes later the businessman pushed the wheelbarrow up next to the opening and his foreman brought the plastic pipe over. Together they fit the pipe into the hole, closed end first, and then used rubber mallets to pound it in until the top edge was just below the ground around it.

When that was done, they began pouring concrete into the pipe, filling it to the rim. Together they used the trowels to smooth the top surface completely.

From her bag, the woman extracted the rolled up piece of leather that had originally covered the hole and opened it. No one spoke as she studied the symbol burned into the leather and then waited for the top layer of concrete to set.

Before it was too dry, the woman took an artist's chisel from her bag and kneeled next to the closed hole. With the leather hide open on the ground nearby, she carefully recreated the symbol in the concrete.

The woman had just completed the symbol when time suddenly sped up again. As the wind rose, the turtles automatically dipped their heads away from it and held their breath. They felt the same sensation of the ground falling away from them and clung tightly to each other, knowing the phenomenon would not last long.

"I hate this . . . !" Raph yelled out. Once more they touched down hard just as the last word left his mouth. ". . . shit!"

"Hey, we're back in our own time!" Mikey exclaimed.

Sunlight bathed them with its warm glow as they once more viewed activity occurring at the site of the mist's hole. A construction worker walked past them, a folded newspaper in his back pocket.

"Not quite," Don said. "That paper is dated yesterday."

A crew worked to excavate the pit the turtles had climbed down into while a city inspector reviewed the work plans for the site with the construction foreman.

The normality of the scene soon changed as several workers scaled the ladder out of the pit, one of them carrying the broken concrete seal that had covered the hole and another the remnants of the original leather seal.

"The businessman from our last vision must have had loads of dirt dumped on this site," Leo said. "He wanted to make sure that hole was never opened again."

"He probably never fathomed the building boom that would occur around here," Don replied. "The guys on this latest project apparently busted through the concrete casement."

As soon as the inspector saw the symbol that had been etched into the concrete, he turned to the foreman and made a slicing gesture across his throat. The foreman began gesticulating wildly, shouting something at the man and turning red in the face when the inspector stubbornly shook his head.

"What the shell is that all about?" Raph asked.

"It's city policy that work on a site has to stop if anything resembling an artifact is uncovered," Don explained. "The department of antiquities has to review the site to determine if it has historical value before work can continue. That can take a while and cost the builder a ton of money."

"No wonder that guy looks like he's gonna blow a gasket," Raph said.

Disgruntled workers began to leave the work site and time moved forward again, showing the area being cleared out. A guard appeared at sundown, pushing the gate closed before heading off to a small maintenance shack.

When he came out he was carrying a heavy chain and padlock, probably intended for the gate. Before he'd taken three steps he stopped, his head jerking around towards the open pit.

Dropping the chain and lock on the ground, the man walked over to the pit and looked down. Something seemed to attract his attention and after taking a flashlight from his belt, he started down the ladder.

For several minutes nothing happened and then the faintest wisps of the mist appeared near the edges of the pit.

"Well that explains why the gate was unlocked and there wasn't a guard," Mikey said with a grimace.

"It explains why we didn't see the Purple Dragons either," Raph said. 'Ya' think everyone it kills spends time in the white room before they bite it for good?"

"Yes I do," Leo answered grimly. "It drains you faster if you fight, but it can't have you really running or you'd be able to get away from it."

"The mist, whatever it is, mesmerizes you so you can't move," Don said. "It provides you with an image of a place that is inescapable so your mind battles to find a way out. The more of a fight your subconscious puts up, the quicker you are drained."

"Where does that leave us now?" Raph asked. "Here we are, inside our heads too, trying to keep it from eating us alive. We just got the pocket version of a history tour, courtesy of some deep meditation. How do we get out?"

"Focus on moving forward in time again," Leo said. "Move so fast that we slingshot past its hold on us."

"There wasn't a lot of time between when the guard was killed and when we went down into the pit," Don warned.

"Then hold on tight to each other," Leo admonished them. "This is probably going to hurt."

"I hate when he says th~AT!" Mikey yelped as he was abruptly jerked to the side, almost losing his hold on Don's hand.

Years of working with tools gave Donatello a strong grip and he squeezed Mikey's hand to the point where the younger turtle thought his fingers would be crushed.

"Mikey, concentrate!" Leo shouted, trying to be heard above the turbulent wind that surrounded them.

In the next second they were slammed by a gale force wind so hard it knocked the breath out of them and they were unable to draw another. It was necessary to exert such excessive strength in order to maintain their grips that the brothers were actually cutting into each other's hands with their nails.

There was a sudden perception then that their bodies, twirling inside a cyclone of wind, were elongating. Mikey could feel his spine being pulled under his shell and the only thing that kept him from shouting in pain was the fact that he had no breath left to do so.

Then his head snapped back as something akin to gravitational forces caused him to accelerate forward at a rapid speed.

It ended as precipitously as it began. This time the landing was so jarring that it forced them to lose their mental connection.

With a groan, Mikey pushed himself up from the dark, dank tunnel floor. He heard his brothers nearby, all of them grunting through various levels of discomfort.

"I think I'm gonna throw up," Mikey complained, clutching his stomach.

"Do it later," Leo admonished. He was slow getting to his feet, using a wall of the tunnel for support.

"Shit, it's a good thing we've got thick necks 'cause that ride felt like it was trying to break mine," Raph said, rubbing his neck.

Don was sitting up but was looking around rather than trying to rise. "This tunnel is actually only a few feet deep," he said with surprise. "We must have been affected by the mist within minutes of entering the pit."

"How do we know it ain't messing with our heads right now?" Raph asked, on his feet and staring suspiciously at the mist that hovered just inches from them.

Mikey got up and reached out to lend Don a hand in rising. "We broke the spell," Don said. "We aren't susceptible anymore. It's what the Lenape and the old woman did when they refused to look at it."

"Well, those two weren't as fortunate," Mikey said, pointing at the ground beneath the mist. Coins were scattered in all directions and the thick rubber soles from a pair of shoes, bleached white, lay partially embedded in the earthen floor.

"I take it that's what's left of the Purple Dragons we were chasing," Raph said, his lip curling in distaste. "They should have let us catch them."

Just beyond the remains of the Purple Dragons was a hole in the ground from which a thick column of bright mist rose. Scattered around the hole were chunks of concrete, the leftover remains of the casement that had kept the mist captive for so many years.

"We have to seal that up again," Leo said with determination. "Pretty soon it's going to be strong enough to escape the pit entirely and look for victims outside of this construction yard."

"Dude, there's an apartment building a half block from here," Mikey said. "If it gets everybody in there, it'll be strong enough to move during daylight."

"We're gonna be living in a ghost city," Raph said, his deep voice raspy as the full import of the mist's capabilities hit him.

"Now I _really_ feel like throwing up," Mikey said, glancing around at his brothers and then at the mist, rising inexorably from the hole.

TBC…


	4. Chapter 4

Bright  
part 4 final

"We know how to seal it," Don said. "I can remember every detail of the symbol the Lenape drew. I can help Mikey recreate it."

"We'll have to do more than just seal it," Leo said. "Somehow we've got to keep curious people from opening that hole again."

"Collapse the tunnel on it," Raph suggested. "Shouldn't be that hard to do."

"The antiquities people have already been notified," Don said, shaking his head. "They'll have a team out here opening the tunnel right back up again."

The brothers stared at each other as they tried to figure out a solution. Meanwhile, the mist began to sweep past them as more of it invaded the pit. Wordlessly, the turtles walked out of the tunnel and into the pit area, noting that the mist had filled it to the half way mark. The only clear area was where they were standing, as the mist purposely avoided them.

"It was only as high as our calves when we first came down," Mikey said.

"We ain't gonna have time to seal this shit in," Raph said. "It's moving like it's got a purpose."

"Salt," Don said, snapping his fingers. "We need salt to drive it back into the hole. There's a bodega on the corner, we can break in there and take all they've got."

The mist was now three quarters of the way up the sides of the pit. "Ain't gonna make it back in time," Raph said.

Leo suddenly spun to face Mikey. "Give me your chips."

Mikey blinked at him. "What you talking about Willis?"

"You never go anywhere without a bag of chips, Mikey. You even took some with you back to the Cretaceous period and fed them to the dinosaurs," Leo said.

Patting his belt, Mikey said, "Look bro'. I don't have anything on me."

Rather than responding, Leo stared pointedly at his brother. Don was looking at Mikey expectantly and Raph growled, low in his throat.

"Okay, okay. Don't have a cow," Mikey finally said. He reached for Don's duffel bag, still slung across the genius' shoulder, and unzipped it to delve inside.

"You hid your chips in my bag?" Don asked incredulously.

"Geez, Donny, it's not like you don't already carry a ton of stuff in there," Mikey proclaimed, pulling two large bags of potato chips from the duffel. "What's a few snacks more or less?"

"Don, will this work?" Leo asked, accepting the chips from a reluctant Mikey.

"It should slow this thing down," Don said. "Crush them and spread the crumbs around the hole. It isn't the same a salt granules though. The ground moisture is going to dilute the effectiveness pretty fast."

"Then we need to divide our forces," Leo said. "Raph, you and Don get to the lair and load everything you need into the van. Come back here as fast as you can. I'll hit the bodega and get the salt. Give me your duffel bag, Don. I'll need something to carry the salt in."

As Don handed the duffel over to Leo, Mikey asked, "So what should I do?"

"Take the chips and spread them around the hole," Leo said, pushing the bags back into Mikey's hands. "Stand guard to make sure no one else comes down into the pit while we're gone."

"Aw man, I always get the creepy jobs!" Mikey complained.

Raph was already starting up the ladder and called back down to him, "Don't eat any of those chips either, goof ball."

Mikey watched his brothers disappear over the edge of the pit and then looked back towards the tunnel behind him. With an audible gulp, he clutched the chip bags to his chest and made his way back to the hole.

Crushing the chips as he stood a foot from the opening, Mikey decided he'd rather be safe than sorry. He figured the mist might get mad at his interference and capture him again, despite what his genius brother had said.

After he pulled open the tops of both bags, Mikey closed his eyes and started sprinkling the salted chip particles around the hole.

Mikey felt rather than heard the swift movement of air past his legs, coming from the direction of the pit and towards the hole. Though he was tempted to look, he kept his lids tightly shut as he emptied both bags.

He started to step back but then as an afterthought, Mikey tossed the bags into the hole. Only then did he retreat into the pit and open his eyes.

Looking up, Mikey saw right away that his trick had pulled the mist down from the pit opening by a few feet. The whiteness wasn't as thick as it had been moments before and what was still in the pit didn't seem to be moving.

"Come on guys," Mikey urged under his breath. "Get a move on."

With each passing minute Mikey grew more agitated. Leonardo should have been back rather quickly; the bodega wasn't that far way. Mikey started pacing, glad to note that the mist still seemed to want nothing to do with him as it slid aside with each step he took.

Just as he was making up his mind to search for his brother, Mikey heard a hiss from the top of the pit and looked up to see Leo.

"What took you so long?" Mikey asked accusingly. "I was starting to freak out down here."

"Sorry," Leo said. "Back up out of the way."

"Huh?" With no idea what his brother was up to, Mikey backed against the wall. As soon as he was out of the way, a large bundle plummeted down from above and hit the ground with a resounding thump.

Looking at it, Mikey saw that it was a forty pound bag of salt. Before he could comment, another one landed on top of the first, followed swiftly by four more.

"That didn't come from the bodega," Mikey said as he watched Leo climb back down into the pit.

"I was halfway there when I remembered there was a restaurant supply company a couple of blocks farther along," Leo said, jumping down the last few feet and leaving Don's duffel bag at the base of the ladder. "I came back here for a wheelbarrow and acquired as much as I could carry in it."

"I like that word 'acquired'," Mikey said teasingly. "I mean, as opposed to 'stole'."

Leo made a face as he picked up one of the bags. "I'll get the money from our emergency fund later and pay for this," he said.

Following Leo's example, Mikey hoisted two of the bags onto his shoulders and took them into the tunnel, placing them on the ground near the hole. When they went back into the pit, Leo stopped him from picking up the remaining bags.

"Let's open these here and spread the salt all over the ground," Leo suggested. "I don't know if any part of this mist can survive without its host, so we should drive it all back into the hole."

"I can get behind that," Mikey said, watching as Leo used his katana to slit open the heavy plastic bags. "I'd just as soon not look at any kind of a mist ever again."

Salt poured over the sides of the bags as soon as they were opened and the mist flew away from it, rushing towards the walls of the pit. Gathering handfuls of salt, the two brothers began pitching the crystals against the walls and working towards the middle of the pit.

They were just in time. The crushed chips that had formed a temporary deterrent had lost their effectiveness and more of the mist was pouring through the tunnel opening. Little by little Mikey and Leo drove it back, forcing the mist out of the pit and back towards the hole.

When all of the mist in the pit had dissipated to nothing, the brothers picked up the sliced salt bags and trailed into the tunnel, shaking salt onto the ground as they went. Leaving a heavy concentration at the tunnel entrance, the duo finished off those bags by tossing what was left in the direction of the hole.

A heavy blanket of bright mist swirled and eddied around the hole. As Mikey stared at it, he could almost imagine he saw lights blinking inside the white curtain that it formed.

"Mikey!" Leo yelled, shaking his brother by the shoulder. "Snap out of it."

"Whoa," Mikey said, rubbing a trembling hand across his forehead. "That was intense. What the shell happened?"

"I think it's concentrating what's left of its power in trying to capture us again. Our immunity must be wearing off," Leo said. "Don't look at it. Focus on the salt bags."

"Okay," Mikey said, keeping his eyes fixed on the bags as he and Leo walked over to them. "I wish Raph and Don would hurry up."

"Ask and ye shall receive," Raph said from behind them. "Damn, how'd you chase all of the mist back into here?"

"Leo _acquired_ some really big bags of salt," Mikey said. "Don't look into the mist dude, it's up to new tricks."

"Yeah, well me and Don got a few of our own," Raph said. "I gotta help him get the rest of the supplies down here. Can ya' drive all of it back into that hole?"

"Yep," Leo said, slicing open the remaining four bags of salt.

Raph nodded once and spun on his heels, leaving Leo and Mikey to their job. Together they covered the tunnel floor with a thick layer of salt, pushing the undulating mist back until only a single column remained inside the hole.

"I feel like it's watching us," Mikey said, his eyes drawn to the four foot tall white spike that danced above the edges of its home.

"Dump the rest of the salt into that hole and it will stop," Leo said matter-of-factly.

"Yes let's," Mikey agreed with alacrity, suiting actions to his words.

When the first handfuls of salt fell through the opening in the ground, the mist column jerked and then retracted completely into the hole. Breathing a relieved sigh, Mikey lifted what remained in a salt bag and waited until Leo was standing over the hole with a bag of his own.

Together they upended their bags and poured every bit of salt down into the darkness that housed the mist. As soon as they did, the ground under their feet started to shake, stopping once all of the salt had disappeared into the hole.

"Let's shove the bags down in there too," Leo said.

They had just finished that chore when Raph entered the tunnel, pushing a wheelbarrow in front of him. Don was right behind him, carrying a section of PVC pipe, a thick metal plate, and an engraving tool.

"Good thing they had bags of concrete in that maintenance shack," Raph said with a grin. "Saved us from having to make a trip to _acquire_ some."

Setting the metal plate on the ground, Don kneeled next to it and signaled Mikey to join him. As Mikey kneeled down, Don laid a piece of paper in front of him that was a perfect reproduction of the symbol created by the Lenape Indian.

"I looked this up on my laptop and printed a copy," Don said. "This is the symbol you'll need to duplicate on this metal sheet, both sides. If I could draw anything other than stick figures, I'd do it. You're the only one in the family who lives up to his name."

"No pressure though," Mikey said lugubriously as he lifted the etching tool.

"Be fast about it knucklehead," Raph said. "This concrete don't need to set before we get a chance to pour it."

Mikey snorted and shot Raph a dirty look. "Really? How's that helpful?"

"Leave him alone," Leo said. "What do we do while he draws that symbol?"

Don stood and produced some metal brackets. "We've got to drive these into the wall of the hole, exactly three and a half feet down. This is what the metal plate will rest on and then we'll push the pipe down on top of it. PVC lasts longer than metal pipe and I purposely chose thick brackets and a plate that will survive as long as the plastic."

"So just to recap, one of us has to reach down into a black hole full of unfriendly whatsis and drive some brackets into the wall while maybe that same deadly shit tries to eat our hands?" Raph asked. Taking the brackets and a hammer from Don, he added, "Sounds like fun to me. I'll do it."

As Raph strode over to the hole, Don turned to Leo and said, "I brought some low grade explosive charges from the lair. They'll be strong enough to collapse the tunnel without damaging the pit."

"Won't the construction people just climb down and open it back up?" Leo asked.

"Actually, I had an idea for that," Don said. "If the pit is flooded, they'll think that they've hit an underground water source. The engineers and city inspectors won't allow them to dig in this area again. They'll have to redesign their structure to avoid this area, or just abandon the project completely and turn this into something that doesn't require a sub-basement."

Raph had been leaning into the hole and now sat back on his heels to look at the pair. "Hey, that's a great idea egg head. Only one problem. How the hell are ya' gonna get that much water into this pit? In case ya' haven't noticed, it's pretty damn big."

"Yeah," Mikey agreed, pausing in his work, "and time's short dude. Daylight's only a few hours away."

"Don?" Leo asked, sure his brother had thought of the answer already.

"We'll fly it in," Don said. "The fire department has water hog buckets. Portable, lightweight, collapsible buckets. We can borrow one, attach it to the helicopter, and scoop some water from the river."

"How many trips will we have to make?" Leo asked.

"They have the larger capacity ones, so it'll take approximately five trips," Don said. "Once we start though, it should only take about three minutes per round trip to scoop water, come back here to dump it, and go out for more water again."

Finished with the brackets, Raph stood up and brushed the dirt and salt from his knees. "Shit, that's the craziest damn plan I ever heard. I'm in."

"Mikey, how's it going with the symbol?" Leo asked.

"Almost done with the second side," Mikey said. "By the way, why am I drawing this on _both_ sides?"

"Because I think the charm will work better if it's both face up and face down in the hole," Don said. "It can't hurt."

"I hope those aren't famous last words," Mikey muttered, returning to his job.

"Are ya' sure those artifact people won't drain the pit and start digging anyway?" Raph asked as he walked over to join his brothers. "In TV shows those guys are pretty rabid."

"In real life it's all about funding," Don said. "They didn't find anything other than a scrap piece of leather so getting money for labor and permits is going to be problematic. Private donors don't give unless there is a chance for a payout. There's no money in old leather."

"You hope," Raph replied.

"It's all hope right now," Leo said. "If anyone in the past who had encountered this thing knew how to destroy it, they would have. Containing it so it can't do harm is the only option open to us."

"Done," Mikey announced, standing up and tilting his head to look down at his handiwork. "An exact replica, if I do say so myself."

Don picked up the paper copy and compared it to Mikey's etching. "Good job, Mikey. It's perfect."

Mikey blew on his knuckles and rubbed them on his chest. "Yeah, I'm awesome."

Lifting the metal plate, Leo examined both sides and then took it over to the hole. The salt was doing its job because not even a wisp of white smoke could be seen and for that he was grateful.

Kneeling at the rim of the hole, Leo asked, "Just set this down on the brackets?"

"Yes," Don answered, carrying the PVC pipe over to the hole. "It should fit snugly, I hope. I only had an eyeball estimate to go by."

"That's better than most folks can do with a measuring tape," Raph said, winking at Don.

Waiting until Leo had the metal plate set firmly in place, Don fitted the PVC pipe into the hole. He then stepped back so Raph could use the hammer to tap around the rim of the pipe and drive it down until it touched the metal plate solidly.

Mikey had the wheelbarrow ready and pushed it close to the hole once the PVC was situated properly. Using a shovel, Mikey scooped concrete into the pipe, filling it.

"Raph, you and Mikey take the wheelbarrow and shovel back to the maintenance shack," Leo said. "Make sure you rinse them off first so no one will guess they've been used. I'll help Don set the charges."

"Will do," Mikey said quickly, happy for an assignment that took him out of the pit.

Raph and Don had used a rope to lower the wheelbarrow into the pit and as Raph climbed the ladder, Mikey used the rope to secure the wheelbarrow for its upward flight. While Raph pulled the wheelbarrow to the surface, Mikey pushed the empty concrete bags and water jugs into the tunnel and then scaled the ladder with the shovel in hand.

Using the water hose near the maintenance shack, the brothers rinsed the items they'd borrowed and then put them back where they belonged. That's when Mikey spotted the chain and lock that the unfortunate guard had dropped.

"We should secure the gate," Mikey said, stooping to retrieve the items from the ground. "It'll look less like someone was in here that way."

"Good thinking bro'," Raph said. "Let's take care of that before some cop stops by and notices this place ain't locked up tight."

They waited near the shack until a taxi had passed and then ran swiftly to the gate. Raph kept an eye out while Mikey wrapped the chain through the fence post and gate and then padlocked it.

It took them only a couple of minutes to complete that task and get back to the pit. By that time Don and Leo had climbed to the surface and were waiting for them.

"We locked the gate to keep anyone from getting nosy 'til morning," Raph said at Leo's quizzical look.

"I think we might be having some good turtle luck on the traffic situation," Mikey said. "This whole time we've been moving around out here, we've only seen one car. Maybe no one will notice a helicopter dumping giant buckets of water on this site in the middle of the night."

Even though he was being a little sarcastic, Don chose to take it literally. "I hope not or this plan will be for naught. The authorities will want to know why someone felt the need to purposely fill this pit with water."

"They'll figure someone was hiding the guard's body, 'cause they're bound to miss him," Raph said.

"They still might, even if we aren't seen tonight," Leo said. "It's the best plan we've got. At least the water will disguise the fact that explosives were used to collapse the tunnel. They'll think water pressure did it."

"Those folks sleeping in that apartment building aren't gonna notice the explosion, are they?" Raph asked.

Don shook his head. "I calculated the size of the explosion needed to destroy the tunnel braces and make it collapse in on itself. The ground in that area might sink in a little, but that will add to the illusion that there's an underground water problem."

Setting his duffel bag down, Don dug out a remote control device, holding it in both hands before looking over at Leo.

"Do it," Leo said.

Upon Leo's command, Don swiftly flipped two switches and then two more. A muffled _whump_ sounded from inside the pit and the turtles felt a tremor run through the ground under their feet.

A light cloud of dust lifted from the pit, its dark shade making the brothers sigh in relief. Other than a slight depression in the ground at a point above where the tunnel had been, nothing else was amiss.

Don leaned down to tuck the remote into his bag and Leo said, "We're on a time clock now. Raph, you and I will take the van and head to the fire department. We'll locate the water buckets and borrow one. Don, you head back to the lair and get the helicopter. We'll meet you on the south side of the river, at that closed boat ramp."

"On my way," Don said, taking off at a fast jog.

"Mikey," Leo said, turning to his youngest brother.

"I'm staying here aren't I?" Mikey asked, sounding less than thrilled with the idea.

"Sorry bro'," Leo said. "Someone has to be here to give us the all clear. If anyone shows up, signal us on the shell cell so we don't come anywhere near in the helicopter."

"I know that mist's trapped again," Mikey said, "but let's be quick about this whole water thing, okay? I don't want to be stuck here any longer than I have to be."

"Don't worry, we don't want to drag this out either," Leo assured him before following Raph to the fence and leaping over it.

Left alone again, Mikey did a quick perimeter check before cautiously approaching the pit. Taking a quick peek over the side and seeing nothing that even faintly resembled a drifting mist, he walked back to the maintenance shack.

After getting a drink of water from the hose, Mikey settled down to wait, resting his carapace against the shack's wall. It wasn't long before the eerie silence got to him and he jumped up to scan the construction yard.

Seeing nothing, Mikey decided to burn off some nervous energy by walking around the shack. He did that three times with his eyes open, and after counting the number of steps it took to get all of the way around, he did it twice with his eyes shut.

Deciding his count was accurate after stopping both times at the exact spot where'd he'd started, Mikey decided to snoop around in the shack. Almost immediately he found a newspaper and pounced on it.

Mikey had read the paper from front to back and was working the crossword when his shell cell buzzed. He answered it by saying, "Please tell me you guys are close."

" _We are if everything's still quiet there,"_ Leo answered.

"Come ahead," Mikey said enthusiastically.

Stepping away from the shack, Mikey looked up at the sky and saw the running lights on the helicopter as it approached. Other than the faint sound of the blades, the copter made no noise and Mikey knew that Don was flying it in silent mode.

Suspended on a cable beneath the helicopter was a bright yellow bag. Don positioned it directly above the pit and a second later, a hatch on the bottom of the bag opened and a great flood of water poured out.

"Wow," Mikey murmured in awe. "So cool."

He watched the helicopter fly away and checked the time on his shell cell. In just under three minutes, the copter returned with another load of water.

Just as Don had estimated, it took five trips to fill the pit. Mikey'd had to signal them away only once, when a slow moving car had driven by. Noticing the plates were from out of state, Mikey guessed that they were lost and looking for a street sign, not investigating the construction site.

When the final load of water was dumped, Mikey's shell buzzed again. "Talk to the Mikester," he said.

" _We're swinging closer to you,"_ Leo said. _"Climb onto the bucket and scale the cable so we can get out of here."_

Tucking his shell cell away, Mikey waited for the bucket to come to him, jumping up to grab the top edge once Don had steadied it. Hand over hand, Mikey pulled himself up to the helicopter, taking Leo's offered hand so that he could climb inside.

Don circled the construction site once and Mikey had a chance to get a bird's eye view of the pit. It was now full to the brim with water, looking more like a backyard swimming pool than the death trap it had been earlier in the night.

Mikey settled into a seat as Don banked the helicopter, taking it away from the construction site and back towards the river.

"I am so glad that's over with," Raph said with relief. "I ain't too fond of that supernatural crap."

"Aw heck Raphie," Mikey said in a teasing tone of voice, "for all you know, this could be an illusion, we're still in bright fantasy land, and that thing's eating us."

Scowling at him, Raph said, "Oh yeah? Well if that's the case, then I want one more chance to do this."

Reaching around behind the seat, Raph smacked Mikey on the back of his head.

"Ow!" Mikey responded, staring at his brother reproachfully.

The other two laughed and then Leo said, "This adventure has made me hungry. Anyone want to join me for a late night snack?"

There was a chorus of affirmatives and Don added, "That sounds great, but we have to return this water bucket first."

"Me and Leo will take care of that," Raph said. "Then we can all go home."

Mikey grinned and shook his head. "Nope, not yet. We've got one more stop."

Glancing quizzically into the rear view mirror, Don asked, "Huh? We do? For what?"

Crooking his thumb in the direction of his oldest brother, Mikey answered, "Leo still has to pay for all of that salt he _acquired_."

With an audible groan, Leo flopped back in his seat and said, "Good-bye pizza money."

"More like good-bye creepy mist," Don countered.

"I hope it's gone for good," Raph said.

Sighing loudly, Mikey said, "That's something I think we can all agree on."

The End


End file.
